


Bread Upon The Waters

by DixieDale



Category: Clan O'Donnell - Fandom, Garrison's Gorillas, Hogan's Heroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 12:51:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14955035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DixieDale/pseuds/DixieDale
Summary: They'd lost everything they had, except for what they could easily fit into one small draw-string bag, or so they'd thought.  Til an unexpected visitor offered them more than they could have dreamed of being given.  Offered by one they'd taken into their hearts and their home so many years ago, forming a bond never broken.





	Bread Upon The Waters

The East End was a hard place, a poor and uncomfortable place by many reckonings. As Newkirk had said on more than one occasion, "a 'ard place to live, an easy place to die if you're not bloody careful!" It had been that way before the war, even more so after the war had started. Still, they'd endured, going on with their lives as best they could with what new hardships the war had brought them - so many men gone off to war, so many telegrams of 'we regret to inform'. They'd cringed at the sound of those small scooters manned by youngsters that delivered those feared telegrams. Rationing lines, children sent away to the countryside by the hundreds, even thousands, both sides wondering if they'd ever be reunited again.

They noted the Sweetheart Badges pinned to lapels, some silver or enameled, some of some cheap unknown metal - complete with the names of regiments or divisions, some simply with the type of service the man was in - though more of the real ones were in the toff's areas; many here in the East End made do with small scraps of whatever was available, the insignia of their far-away ones inked on it as a East-End version. They noted the changes in those 'badges', along with the faces of those who wore them, after the final telegram arrived. 

They'd laughed, not with any humor, more in disgust when the newspapers showed only smiling, upbeat Cockneys, with quotes like "we can take it, Hitler! Bring it on!" No one they knew was saying anything like that, that's for bloody well sure! They'd been wary but thankful for the Quakers, them with their Friends Ambulance Unit and Friends Relief Service, and the Rest Centres they'd help set up, the Quakers being those who seemed to see the East Enders no less worthy of aid than the toffs, but there were just too few helpers, too many needing help. Many still sheltered in warehouses, often without the knowledge of the owners, or in arches or under the wharves, though that latter was more dangerous than perhaps any, with the bombers targeting the docks so heavily. Well, they could see the sense of that; the docks were the major supply line, would have been a prime target, but when the planes came, if that's where you were, and that's where many made their wages, what were you to do? 

They noted, along with everyone else, when the newspapers stopped printing the obituary notices, though they weren't sure whether that was everywhere or only in the East End; there were those who wondered whether it was elsewhere, or if it was only THEIR dead who didn't matter enough to even acknowledge anymore.

And they listened with more than a little skepticism when Air Minister Duncan made his proud announcement in September 1944, that "except for a few last shots, the Battle of London is over!" Somehow, the massive explosions that started the very next day made that statement rather premature, or as Maxie had proclaimed bitterly, "another bleedin' idiot, thinking w'at 'e says goes straight to 'itler's ear and with that bloody bastard listening and nodding, saying "yes, sir, Mr. Duncan, Sir! Right away, Sir, will get right on it!" The newspapers reported the many and repeated huge explosions, with the resulting devastation, as 'gas main leaks', and it was some time before they admited 'bloody 'itler' had a new weapon, the V.2.

The small hospital where the O'Donnell's held an interest was crammed full, twenty-four hours a day rotating staff, some taking 18 hour shifts or more, sleeping only when too exhausted to be safe to continue in their fight. There was a unit from that hospital that went out daily, sometimes twice a day, into the East End, offering minor aid and transporting those needing more serious help, another group affiliated with them that took food trucks, whatever they could scrape together, to try and provide for those in that area. 

Michael, Patrick, James, others from the Clan Friends and Family, watched with horror at the area they'd known so well, spent so much time in, watched as it gradually turned into block after block of rubble. Meghada came up from Brandonshire, along with AJ Riley and Sheila, to help as best they could, staying for a few days before returning home, then repeating the routine again and again. AJ and Sheila had served that community before being asked to go to Brandonshire; their daughter, niece and others of their family were still there. (GG string - 'An Old Debt Paid and A New Alliance Made'; Hogan's Heroes string - 'Brangle Street Lads')

Trying to balance the needs of the team, the village and their desperate friends, it was challenging at best, and the Clan dispatched young Colin Myer and Deacon O'Donnell to Brandonshire to help fill the gap while the Riley's were gone. Both Colin and Deacon were at the end of their medical training, not full doctors yet, but were both from the Home Enclave and were quite competent, could be spared to help; anything more serious than they could handle, either with the village or the team, well, they'd pull in stronger help on the double, but luckily that hadn't been necessary so far.

Still, the grim day came when Meghada stood amidst the rubble, looking at what was left of someplace she'd always counted as a place apart, a place of some safety. Now, Maudie's pub was no more, the surrounding businesses and flats smoking, people working, digging through the remains almost lethargically now, having long since given up hope of finding any still alive. Major Richards was at her elbow; he'd been at that pub more than once, had met Maude and Marisol, met a brash, cheeky representative of one of the young street gangs there. ('Off-Limits'; 'Promises To Keep') No, it couldn't mean the same to him as it obviously did to her, but actually knowing those people, being able to put faces to the names of those not accounted for, that had an impact.

He swallowed deeply, "come away now. We'll keep an eye on the lists for you."

For a moment he thought she hadn't heard him, then she looked up, and he saw her eyes flooded with tears, her, the Dragon who rarely let herself shed tears. "Aye, we'll be watching, but we'll be searching as well. But for now - now, I have to let Caeide know."

And Richards stilled, remembering now that Caeide had spent a full year in that pub, made it her home, considered those there not only as her beloved Mentors, but as close friends, one man not there but away at the war, something far more than friend. And he ached for her, knowing how the news would hit her. (Hogan's Heroes string - 'That Year in London')

A difficult message, one Meghada dreaded to give, certainly, but if anyone had expected Caeide to sit back, weep and mourn and helplessly wring her hands, well they didn't know her very well. Instead, the message went out to Patrick, and Michael, and James, and indeed any and all of the Clan Family and Friends she could contact. A request to search, a message to be given to three women if they could be found - Maudie, Marisol, as well as Mavis Newkirk - "come, if you are willing. There is a place of perhaps greater safety, food, shelter, a place by the fire. Most welcome will you be here." Moreover, if any of the three were unwilling to leave London, then other aid would be given by the Clan, whatever they had to offer. And the brothers took up the search, firmly sending Meghada back to Brandonshire, seeing how she was torn between the two opposing needs, the two places she wanted to be but couldn't, not at the same time. 

It was in a much over-crowded shelter, one of those run by the Quakers that they finally met with success, at least as far as Maude and Marisol were concerned. A grim faced Matron had acknowledged the presence of the two East-Enders, summoned them but staying close, watching with care to be sure there was no danger to the two women by the dark-haired young man making the urgent inquiry. The unbelieving smiles on all three faces at their first sight, the warm tight hugs exchanged, well, that brought a smile also to the tired woman currently in charge of the shelter, and she left them alone to talk in quiet. And it was without misgivings she saw the two off in his company, marked them down in her accounting as 'reunited with family'.

Maude and Marisol walked away with the one small drawstring carry-all that contained all they had left in this world; well, all of the physical possessions anyway, their dark-haired young savior proving to them quite well that they had something as important, they still had friends, those who cared about them. The two women had seen, shared a knowing smile, at the envelope passed from Patrick to the Matron, them having more than a little experience with how the Clan thought. They were the ones who told Patrick where Mavis was, that she'd left the East End at the urging of a man friend, gave Patrick her direction. When Ian made the trip, Mavis was surprised, aye and grateful, truly, but declined to leave where she was, and Ian did his duty by his sister by leaving an envelope there as well to help her get by, as well as contact information should she need other help. Well, he'd expected as much; Mavis had never taken to Caeide, had always been more than a little wary of the obvious affection shared by her brother and the girl. 

Still, even after the welcome news that Maude and Marisol had been found, were even now on their way to Haven in the company of one of the brothers, still Meghada wondered about those she'd known, and the brothers, the others of Friends and Family, they continued their own fight, and stayed on the watch for any they'd known, to be there to lend a helping hand as they could. And if Goniff added a few names to that list, well, that was only to be expected, and surely his right, for wasn't he quite firmly on that list, on the Family side now?

As for Maude and Marisol? Well, along with Caeide, now they were waiting, waiting for their far-away lad to come home, to make their family complete once again. (Hogan's Heroes string 'Waiting By The Fire')


End file.
